A psychosocial hazard is anything that could harm someone's mental health, and there are multiple causes and contributing factors that give rise to these risks. Australia's Work Health & Safety Act requires businesses to manage psychosocial risks to workers by minimising or eliminating hazards. Here we provide a summary of Safe Work Australia's comprehensive guidelines1 to help business owners implement systems and approaches to addressing workplace mental health hazards.
Employers have a duty of care to address psychosocial risks and eliminate or minimise them2. To better understand what psychosocial hazards are read this overview about recognising psychosocial hazards in the workplace.
Addressing psychosocial hazards risks requires an effective risk management process with mechanisms for:
- identifying the hazards
- assessing the associated risks
- implementing control measures to eliminate or minimise risks
- regularly reviewing control measures to ensure they remain effective.
This calls for scrutiny of current processes, management structures and reporting mechanisms to understand where gaps or deficiencies may be occurring, or if behavioural issues such as bullying or harassment, or even just personality clashes and communication failures are involved.
When choosing control measures you must consider all the hazards present and how they may interact and combine. An effective management approach for workplace risk mitigation focused on psychosocial hazards should include the following 10 steps.
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Risk assessment
- Conduct a workplace assessment to identify psychosocial risks, considering factors such as high workload, job insecurity, bullying and lack of support from supervisors.
- Make use of surveys, interviews and observations to gather data on employee perceptions and experiences.
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Legal compliance
- Workplace conditions should comply with Australian workplace health and safety laws which require employers to provide a safe working environment, including psychologically safe conditions.
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Raise awareness
- Take steps to ensure employees and managers are aware of psychosocial risks.
- Provide guidance on recognising signs of stress, burnout or mental health issues.
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Have a process in place
- Develop clear procedures that address psychosocial risks. These should include protocols for reporting and responding to issues like harassment, bullying, sexual harassment and work-related stress.
- Implement mechanisms for confidential reporting and support for employees experiencing psychosocial issues.
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Fostering a healthy workplace
- A positive work culture is one that promotes work-life balance and open communications.
- Encourage teamwork, provide opportunities for skill development and acknowledge achievements.
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Risk control strategies
- Implement and document control measures to eliminate or minimise identified psychosocial risks. This may involve workload management, job design, providing additional resources and support, and creating communication channels.
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Measure impacts and progress
- Regularly monitor the effectiveness of risk control measures and evaluate their impact.
- In addition to employee feedback refer to data on absenteeism, turnover rates, and health outcomes to assess the success of interventions.
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Involve employees
- Ask employees and their representatives to contribute to identifying and addressing psychosocial risks.
- Encourage open dialogue and seek suggestions for improving workplace conditions.
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Supporting mental health
- Provide access to resources and support for mental health, such as employee assistance programs (EAPs) and counselling services.
- Use conversations about mental health to reduce stigma associated with seeking help.
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Continuous improvement
- Regularly review and update strategies for managing psychosocial risks, based on feedback, changing work conditions and new research findings.
Establishing benchmarks for psychosocial safety measures
It's important to review your control measures to check they are working as planned. The review process should be based on documented data, with clearly defined processes for internal escalation and adjustment.
A benchmarked process enables an overview of the effectiveness of claim and injury management/rehabilitation strategies and ensures they are regularly assessed and that progress towards goals is recorded and communicated.
Get expert help with workplace regulations and safety risks
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Our Workplace Risk team offers everything from safety mentoring and training through to health and wellness programs, hazard and risk profiling, and incident management and investigation for larger companies.
